Vacation Happiness in Pictures

posted on January 4, 2013 by Bianca Garcia

Happy New Year, dear friends!

To start this year filled with gratitude, I’m sharing some pictures from my latest stay in the Philippines. There are indeed the things that I am thankful for, the things that make any 21-hour plane ride worth it, the things I hold dearest in my heart.

I kept my vacation simple this year. I didn’t make a lot of plans, didn’t go out to a lot of restaurants, didn’t visit different cities or islands. I mostly stayed put at home with my family, met up with old friends, drank hot chocolate every morning, and caught up with my magazines and Kindle reading. I left Manila refreshed and happy, and looking forward to the next time I come home again.

my travel buddy Fe, some of my best friends from college, Tita Ine who cooked some of my favorite dishes, including calves liver with onions (mmmm liver).

our peaceful living room at home, my sisters with the hotel Santa (whom Monica kept asking when he is going back to the North Pole), and local single-source chocolate bars infused with traditional Filipino flavors like siling labuyo (bird’s eye chili) and green mangoes

It was two weeks filled with happiness.

I hope your 2013 is off to a wonderful start. I’ll be back next week with a recipe that might fit in with New Year’s resolutions (hint: it involves tofu)!

I love the packaging on those chocolate bars (and with chili and green mango?!). And how nice that you could catch up with so many friends from high school and college – the sign of a truly great visit home :)

Looks like a fun and delicious vacation! And what an amazing living room! My husband is Filipino, but I’ve still never been. I’ve seen far too many beautiful pictures and heard too many great stories. Some day…